Hood track and field team prepares for its winter season

By Aden Sievert//

The Hood track and field team begins competition for the winter season on Dec. 2 at the Fastrack National Invitational in Staten Island, New York.

The 2022-23 season marks Michael Petro’s second full season as head coach of the men’s and women’s track teams.

The team has been preparing for this season since the conclusion of the outdoor championship during the spring semester of the 2021-22 school year.

“We have 24 weeks of structured activity that we can use continuously starting back from the outdoor conference championship, so it’s the entire spring semester plus seven or eight weeks in the fall,” Petro said.

As summer recruiting came to a close, Petro brought in 17 first-year student-athletes, nine on the men’s roster and eight for the women’s team.

Last year, on the men’s side, their best showing came from the first competition of the season, where they placed fourth overall.

The women’s team’s best showing also resulted in fourth place. That was during the Mid-Atlantic/South Region Interconference meet on March 25, 2022.

As of Oct. 17, the team has been training Monday through Friday. During this time, Petro and his coaching staff have been teaching techniques for the more technical events such as throws, sprints and jumps.

The coaching staff is making sure they are fully preparing the team for the first event in December.

After the team’s first event, athletes will have a month-long break until their next competition, where they will travel to Virginia Wesleyan University to compete in back-to-back meets on Jan. 20 and Jan. 21.